Animal Sacrifice Powered Ancient Jerusalem's Economy

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Pilgrims came from hundreds of miles away to sacrifice animals at
an ancient temple in Jerusalem, new research suggests.

An analysis of bones found in an ancient dump in the city dating
back 2,000 years revealed that
animals sacrificed at the temple came from far and wide.

"The study shows that there is a major interprovincial market
that enables the transfer of vast numbers of animals that are
used for sacrifice and feasting in Jerusalem during that time
period," said study co-author Gideon Hartman, a researcher at the
University of Connecticut.

The finding, published in the September issue of the Journal of
Archaeological Science, confirms visions of the temple depicted
in historical Jewish texts and suggests the economic heart of the
city was its slaughtering operation. [ Photos:
Bronze-Age Donkey Sacrifice Discovered in Israel ]

Massive slaughterhouse

At the time, Jerusalem was a bustling metropolis without any
natural economic resources, as it was landlocked and far from
most major trade routes.

According to the Talmud, a Jewish religious text, the city's
economic heart was the Holy Temple, the only place where
Israelites could sacrifice animals as offerings to God. Parts of
the animal that weren't sacrificed as a burnt offering were often
left for people to feast on.

Some passages in the text depict priests wading up to their knees
in blood, and others describe 1.2 million animals being
slaughtered on one day. And the ancient Jewish historian Flavius
Josephus also describes an enormous slaughtering operation.

But historians wondered whether these descriptions were hyperbole
or fact.

Whereas most city dumps contain animal bones, this one contained
an unusually large proportion of them for an agricultural
society, Hartman said.

"Meat was not eaten on a daily basis. It was something that was
kept for special events," Hartman told LiveScience.

What's more, most of the animals were young, suggesting they were
raised for sacrifice.

Hartman analyzed nitrogen and
carbon isotopes, or atoms of the same element with a different
number of neutrons, from about 160 sheep and goat bones found in
the city dump. He then compared the bones from the city dump with
bones from the same time period taken from animals that were
raised both nearby and in distant locales.

All animals incorporate unique ratios of nitrogen and carbon
isotopes from their environment into their body from the food
they eat, so isotope analysis can reveal where animals came from.

After the first temple was destroyed in 586 B.C., the Israelites
eventually rebuilt a
second temple, but by then many Jews were scattered from Asia
Minor to Europe. (The First Temple period refers to the time
after the first temple was built until it was destroyed, while
the Second Temple period refers to the lifetime of the second
temple.)

"There are strong and wealthy Jewish populations during the time
of the second temple that are established far away from the land
of Israel," Hartman said.

Those people were still religiously required to sacrifice
animals, which could only be done in Jerusalem.

So representatives from distant Jewish communities would gather
money from the community to buy animals for slaughter. They would
then bring animals all the way to the
temple in Jerusalem, Hartman said.

"This fuels the economy in Jerusalem: The merchants are making a
lot of money and the city prospers," Hartman said.